PORTS OPERATOR International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) announced on Monday that it is boosting its capacity in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to increase efficiency.
ICTSI’s unit, South Pacific International Container Terminal (SPICT) at Papua New Guinea’s Port of Lae, recently received a pair of new ship-to-shore cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.
The Port of Lae, Papua New Guinea’s largest container port, is now “capable of handling larger box ships,” ICTSI said in a statement.
The new Post-Panamax cranes are the largest port equipment in the country today, it added.
The cranes can “service vessels of up to 6,000 twenty-foot equivalent units and is part of ICTSI’s ongoing program to strengthen and enhance the overall operational efficiency” of the port, according to the company.
ICTSI South Pacific Chief Executive Officer Robert Maxwell expects the new cranes to contribute to SPICT’s “market leader positioning” in the national and international logistics chain.
“With improved productivity, the Port of Lae will soon become an important transshipment hub for the Pacific islands region,” he said.
ICTSI also noted that shipping lines can expect quayside productivity gains and shorter port stays.
“The terminal will soon be able to facilitate direct calls by larger vessels operating in the major trade routes, which in turn would reduce costs for both importers and exporters in the region,” it said.
ICTSI is involved in 34 terminal concessions and port development projects in 20 countries worldwide. It has nine terminal operations in the Philippines, including an inland container terminal, a barge terminal, and combined terminal operations in Subic.
For the nine months ended September, the company saw its net income attributable to equity holders increase by 47% to $465.1 million from $316.4 million previously.
Revenues from port operations climbed 20.1% to $1.64 billion from $1.37 billion last year. — Arjay L. Balinbin
